Trail near Faulkner home put on national list

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — The wooded trail connecting William Faulkner’s home to the University of Mississippi Museum is receiving federal recognition.

The U.S. Department of the Interior has designated the path through Bailey’s Woods in Oxford as a National Recreation Trail.

It’s one 54 such sites given the designation this past week, and only one in Mississippi.

The Oxford Eagle reports that Faulkner, who died in 1962, would play in the woods when he was a child. Later, the Nobel Prize-winning author bought his home, Rowan Oak, and acquired the forested area around it, known as Bailey’s Woods.

The trail is about 3,000 feet long and takes about 20 minutes to walk from end to end. Bikes aren’t allowed so only hikers may use the trail, which is open dawn to dusk.